How To Climb The Credit Card Ladder (Explained)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ธ.ค. 2022
- In this video, we’re going over how to climb the credit card ladder from starter credit cards at the bottom to the best high tier travel credit cards at the top! I’ll talk about the different credit card tiers and what features are found in each one, but I’ll also discuss how to level up within this credit card tier list. I was able to go from my first student credit card over 6 years ago to cards like the Amex Platinum now, so hopefully my experience will be helpful for anyone else looking to get more value from using credit!
Throughout the 5 tiers of credit card ladder, there are a ton of great Chase credit cards, American Express credit cards, and many more. It’ll be up to you to choose these cards based on your own preferences, but if you follow the order that I talk about in this video then you should be able to reach the top!
Shoutout to Ben @TheCreditShifu for his videos on the credit card ladder, so go check his channel out if you somehow haven’t already!
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Every time I see Discover included on a list, it warms my heart since that was my first card. Very informative video, I liked that you included the secured credit cards and even an option for Non-US citizens that I haven’t heard of. I haven’t crossed over into tier 4 as yet, but, I plan to join this tier when it makes sense for me. Keep up the great work Daniel 👍🏾
Had to laugh at the discover comment! 🤣🤣🤣
Discover put me on the map with a 4500 limit they are awesome
Same, good ol discover gave me my first shot
Discover cards are far better than they have any right to be. You can get qualified for the discover it card with no credit history and barely a pulse yet it still gives you the 5x back on the quarterly categories and 1x back on everything else
I at 19 started with discover and no job at the time and they helped me build a good credit over 700. Its crazy to think that and if used right you can really enjoy good cash back and deals with them.
Everyone's credit card journeys are unique and we all have to start with some of those no-fee Cards, as we work our way up the Tier List. I'm mainly sitting at Tier 3, but plan to work my way into Tier 4 most likely sometime in 2023, with some more premium Cards that I plan to sign up for. Love how you discussed flexible point currencies to connect Tiers, redeeming points for travel is definitely the best way to get upside with your point. This was a super in-depth video that I think can be super helpful for a lot of people. Great video as always Daniel!
Tier 5 here I come!!! 💰😉 I thoroughly enjoyed this video. It's so important to take the credit card game slow and make sure you use your cards responsibly, but it can also be a super profitable game as you climb the ladder as long as you keep smart financial habits. Thanks for another great video Daniel!
I'd love to see a card in between tiers 4 and 5 from Amex that the average person could get! But if not then I hope I'm in a position financially to even be considered for the Black card haha. Totally agree with you though - so important to take it slow and always prioritize smart financial habits
@@Daniel_Braun That would be pretty awesome! I imagine that'll happen sometime in the next couple of years based on all the speculation I hear. It'd bring them more money at the end of the day if it's a card people actually want to use, so let's hope they make it good for the benefit of both parties!
FINALLY! Somebody who talks about actual credit card tiers instead of just differentiating them in terms of "free" vs cards that charge an annual fee. I actually have my own ladder of credit card tiers that is largely similar to yours (with different names of course), except I'd make two suggestions:
- I wouldn't count the Discover it Student Cashback and the Cap1 Savor One Student as "Tier 1" cards. For me "Tier 1" cards are secured cards and cards that offer absolutely no rewards (or very minimal rewards). Discover and Savor One Student have real perks comparable with any other "Tier 2" cards, so I think they should be counted as such. Just because they might be easier to get doesn't make them inferior to the Citi Custom Cash or anything else.
- I actually have another tier between your Tier 3 and 4. A "Tier 3.5", if you will. Granted this tier exists mostly because I divided tiers chiefly by annual fee, but I do think cards like the Amex Gold and any other "cut-down" Tier 4 cards (Delta Platinum, Marriott Brilliant, etc.) deserve a tier of their own. These either have very specialized cashback (e.g. Gold) or have more travel perks than Tier 3, but not quite "elite" enough to make an obvious difference in your lifestyle like giving you lounge access.
Other than that, great content and thank you very much for talking about this credit card journey!
man this channel is the goat, helped me a ton since opening my first card not too long ago
Just stepped into the Tier 4 Level with the Venture X card! Credit cards are such a great financial tool! The higher tier cards are so worth the high annual fees when you can get an amazing return on all cards. Thank you for the sick videos Daniel! 🙌🏻
The Capital one platinum was my first card. I got an pre approved offer in the mail and ended up getting approved for it after applying. Only a $300 limit but it definitely helped build my credit score up as well as help me in tight spots. I just got the Freedom flex recently and I definitely wanna manage this one well too. Still learning so I come to these videos quite often!
The information you give is so valuable. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for the time you put in, the videos are great 👍🏽 im on my credit journey and just understanding more in more about the credit game gets me excited. God Bless 🙏🏽
You’re a great speaker! Thank you 🙏🏾
Hi Daniel. You packed a lot into this one and embellished on “ladder” videos created by others. Good job!
Awesome video. As always, you provided great info to help me on my journey. 💪🏾
Thanks so much Chevon! Glad to hear the information was helpful!
Let’s go! Great video! Love that you loop other videos to this video. Your videos are always improving. It is always fun to be moving up the credit card ladder and to widen your credit portfolio! Thanks for the video
I started with the same wells fargo student card that you did!! Thought I was the coolest person ever with that thing
I didn’t know much about credit cards when I first applied to my Chase Sapphire Preferred. I didn’t have any credit history, but I had had a checking account and a saving account with Chase for about a year when I went to the branch in person to apply. Thankfully I got approved. I guess I was lucky.
Currently have the Chase freedom unlimited, and we are satisfied with the cash back program it offers, but it would be nice to have some of the higher tier travel benefits, as we do travel quite a bit. I appreciate the informative content.
They need to be teaching this is high school. I wish i would’ve known this information when i was 18 vs in my late 20’s/ early 30’s
Tier 4 is where I am and where I'll be staying for likely the rest of my credit card career. It's nice here, haha! This was a fun video, and I totally agree with your recommendations on how to climb the ladder! Thanks Daniel!
Wow I think this is the first ever Super Thanks I've received, thank you so much Stan!! Haha agreed, tier 4 is very nice and no need to really worry about tier 5! Maybe some day there will be a "Tier 4.5" with a more premium Amex card or something that is a step below the Centurion Card
@@Daniel_Braun Of course Daniel! I appreciate all the helpful finance content you've been creating for the past several years and Happy Holidays!
Same here, appreciate that you joined the space this year and we’ve been able to connect! Happy Holidays as well 👍
Wow, I’ve never seen anyone talk about the Deserve Edu card (my first credit card). One cool thing is that it has no foreign transactions fees, which came in handy when I went to Europe as a student.
That is cool. I am still pretty young in a poor area, my family gives credit a terrible stigma, and almost cried when I got my first credit card. Honestly though only using %1 and paying it in full every month has done wonders for my score in a relatively short amount of time and has even proved to be a great financial tool. A lot to gain but a lot to lose if mismanaged.
I just wanted to check out this video because I got an offer to move up this "credit ladder" just wanted to double check if it would be a mistake
Killin it!! 🙌🏽🔥
Thanks so much Dayana! You are killing it too!
Focus energy on saving and grind. Working towards a sexy credit card is a fools errand.
I started with the discover it, then got the chase freedom student, upgraded that to the unlimited and then got the freedom flex. I use the discover for it’s rotating categories, the flex for it’s rotating categories and the unlimited for everything else spend because it’s a 1.5% back instead of 1% with the flex. I don’t spend enough to make the annual fee of either of the sapphire cards worth it, but I’m hoping I will be able to by the time I am in my mid 20s, it will make sense to open a chase sapphire card, probably preferred unless income changes on a major level. My plan is to keep the discover open just to have that credit history, and eventually move the chase freedom points to a chase sapphire card so I can transfer them out to travel partners. So for me going past tier 2 does not yet make sense until I have higher spend. I would probably take this route or a very similar one if I were to do this again. The only thing I missed out on is the $200 sign up bonus from the unlimited since I upgraded, but there was no hard credit pull. Also big fomo over the extra 1.5% people we’re getting in addition for a year, but that was just a timing issue.
My 1st credit card story: I was approved for a credit card with a $7,000 limit as a sophomore in college with no job smh. I filled out the form to get a free subway sandwich lol. Luckily I didn’t use it irresponsibly and paid it off when I got school refund money each semester. In the end I keep the card for 15 yrs until they added a yearly fee with no real perks. It did help me build up my credit profile so it all worked out.
I got my first credit card (a secured one) this May. This week, I’ll be getting my AMEX Platinum via mail. It’s not difficult to start from scratch.
I used to work retail in a wealthy area and had several customers pay with amex black
Gracias! Excelente info
Great info as always
Man the more I watch your videos Daniel the more I get the sense you’re a stand up guy. Giving Ben Hedges credit in the Intro is a classy thing to do. Great content as well.
Got into Tier Level 5 with the Venture X card, and it's been fantastic!
Claiming tier 5!
Thanks for the video :)
could you maybe show a video on how to do that internationally? Cheers
Love the videos! Do you think you could do some videos about hotel/airline status’s like best companies, best way to get status, etc!?
I don’t know if I would necessarily call tier 2 as beginners cards. I would venture to say these are the cards most people have and will only ever have, especially those who play team cash back.
Hi, I just wanted to talk about the "Credit card ladder" and also say that it isn't necessarily a ladder, or at least stage 1 shouldn't be. A priority that most people should have is to have good relations with a bank. If you regularly purchase things and receive payments through a bank, they will be more likely to accept you for tier 2 cards without actually going through tier 1, saving you from touching secured/credit builder cards. As an example, I had been using wells Fargo through a custodial account since age 14, and once I turned 18 got the 2% cashback wells Fargo card(tier 2) without having to touch tier 1. Currently, as I just turned 19, my current cards are wells Fargo cash back, Amex blue business, Amex gold, and discover it student credit card. Again, not only does having good relations allow you to get a tier 2 card, but it saves you from the initial step of the regular credit card ladder, and if you're trying to build a chase, trifecta will be incredibly beneficial, but again thank you for your amazing content. I have gotten most of my cards, thanks to you!
Is it the Amex Gold Credit Card or the Gold Service Card? Also, if you live abroad but want to start building credit score in the US, which cards would you recommend? Like, would the Chase Flex be good even with the 3% foreign transaction fee?
I was fortunate to get in on the Sapphire at the 100,000 bonus points, I hope others get the chance in the future!
Love to heat that, 100,000 points was an amazing offer! Yeah hope to see that again soon
I personally was more of a fan of opening multiple accounts early one. Yeah it'll tank your score in the beginning but the recovery will leave your credit a lot stronger than someone who took it slower on their first few accounts. I cosigned and auto loan and opened 3 credit cards all within a month of one another. Yeah my score was in the shitter for a couple months but having multiple revolving accounts reporting on time each month dug me out pretty quick too.
Love your videos!!! Thank you
Thank you so much for saying that Indya, appreciate you watching!!
I have a Costco VISA card. I used it for everything, and pay it off each month. Each year, they send me a check. This year, it will be over $900. Go ahead. Beat that.
Impressive!
Which chase card would you recommend getting first. I already have the citi custom cash so the flex wouldn't be as important to me. I have another one that gets 4x dinning out through us bank. And I have my citi costco card that gets 5x gas.
I work at Hilton Hotels and I get rooms from 29.00 to 79.00 a night. I got the Hilton AMEX blue with no annual fee.
As I go through the ladder. Do I cancel the cards once I get a new one? Specifically as I go from a discover student to chase Freedom unlimited?
Thanks a lot for the info I just have a question. I just moved to the usa like 6 months ago and I’m international student and I got amex platinum and gold without credit score as first credit cards is it good for building my credit score and history? I’m 20 and make around 150k a year in different countries. Thanks again
What if your last credit card is a chase card do you still get denied? For example u got 4 card and 2 of them are chase cards and you apply for the last chase card as your 5th card do you still get denied?
Should I get the freedom flex or the amex blue cash everyday which would you prefer
Can I pay my balance once a purchase is no longer pending, before the transaction shows up online? I travel a lot and want to clear the balance before my trips and not necessarily wait for the balance to post online.
How do you move from one credit card to another e.g I want to move from AMEX gold to AMEX platinum without affecting my credit score. Any tips?
I have been following your content for a while and it's fantastic. Just that the examples of the cards you use have the $ as the base currency. What if I am located in Europe and deal in £ or €? I am not so educated about this
How does the Chase IHG Rewards Premier card compare to the Capital One Venture X and other premium travel credit cards?
What if I start with the citi anywhere card instead of those 2 citi you listed ?? Thanks!
Hey, I have an question for you that I got my credit in the month of march,2024 since then I am using that card and paying my all bills on time but still till date I didn't get my credit score. do you have ant idea?
Daniel I climb slowly. From one to four and five skipped 2 &3
Was over 5/24 with chase citi turned me down Amex family welcome
Me in opened arms
I got a chase freedom unlimited as my first card, is that a good beginner?
So in tier 2 when you get cash back how does that even work so if they gave mecash back of 200$ would that be used as a credit limit let’s say I have a credit limit of 200$ but they gave me 200$ cash back and I used 200$ from the cash back would I have to pay back the 200$ from that cash back since it’s not my credit limit or how does that work I’m new to this ?
I went from capitalone cashback card directly to an amex platinum. I actually had no credit. Paid cash for everything including cards. It look me later in life that I needed it for a house. I felt so stupid for this.
Im in Tier 4 but don’t have the platinum due to the annual fee but have Amex Gold and Chase SR
Nice! Yeah no need to go into tier 4 if the cost can't be justified. Those other cards you have are great and give lots of value anyway!
Do you have a video of at least 10+ cards from each tier?
Capital one platinum, quicksilver now Apple Card. Am I on the right path ?
The credit card world is weird - my first credit card was an Amex Platinum that I got from the Morgan Stanley platinum cash plus program
Any military, apply for American express platinum and you get the fee waived. It took me about 2 minutes of a phone call to them and they verified and waived the fee.
Venture X too I think.
Great video as always!
Is it bad to use your credit card after paying your due date but use it before your closing date Even when you're paying 0% interest for 15 months? Will it be counted as a late payment and I lose points or anything else?
You will never be late as long as you make the minimum payment from the last closing, by the due date.
@@jazzarito Correct
You can use your credit card at any time whether or not it's before after the due date as long as you make the minimum payment before the due date
Alright so.. I have around a 695 credit score and I only had two credit cards for the past 6 years with capital one and in general (quicksilver and savor one) after like 2 years since I applied for the 2nd card (savor one) i went crazy and instead of climbing the credit card ladder, i jumped straight for the venture x and surprisingly got approved with a 10k limit. Was that a good or dumb move? given that i basically skipped the credit card ladder?
I'm happy with all my Tier 2 cards! I don't need travel benefits and I refuse to waste money on annual fees.
its not for you its for people that can afford the annual fee no issue
@@flyerboy2594 I can afford the fee… the benefits aren’t worth it for my lifestyle.
Obviously, you can have many credit cards as you want, but whats the magic number to have?
No one talks about the us bank altitude go secured. I got that card when I turned 18 and about to graduate to their unsecured card
Just started my credit journey in June 22’ with absolutely no credit history. Got a Capital One secured and I’ve only been using 3%. Credit score populated at 680 and steadily increased to 720 as of Nov 22’. Thinking about applying for my first unsecured card in January but I am just scared to get declined since my history is so limited and I’ll take a hit on my score. I’d really love to get a Citi Double Cash or Chase Freedom Flex.
Daniel where do you buy your T shirts??
Can you do a video on balance transfer cards
I am 18 and just received my first score and it was 767
3:40 great way to go into un-escapable debt. Bad advice. New borrowers focusing on rewards will spend more than usual.
It’s crazy how I went from 1 to a 4 and have a platinum American Express with no spending limit and it took me 1 year and 6 months
What card did you start with
not sure why all this seems like 2008 to me. I had tons of them in 2008, banks and credit card companies were issuing it like candy and then 2008 happened. all of a sudden all these went little silent from 2009- 2016 , and the since 2017 gradually increased. and right now getting so many offers and posts for credit card., it feels like 2008.
Is the Apple Card a tier 2?
Question! Would the venture x and the cap one savor be a good combo? I know one’s cash back and the other one is for points. Just wanted a opinion!
Personally I wouldn't call it a "combo" since you can't utilize the perks of 1 with the other. I'd just use the Venture X since if you have it, you're probably using it for the travel perks anyways.
I’ll stay at tier 4
I'm an elite holder of a master card black card!
". . . next level concierge, and apparently that concierge can help you get pretty much anything you ever want"
does that include Taylor Swift tickets? :P
I still don't understand why anyone would want a Preferred card over the Reserve outside the big annual fee. The Reserve credits more than pay for that annual fee while earning more than the Reserve.
Where can one find his Credit score please? Never heard before…
Great videos and just subscribed to your channel and going to be sharing it with my two sons (21 &20 year olds) Quick question if you don’t mind, was able to get both of them going with establishing credit at 18 and they have done great. My 21 yr old just recently in August 2022 had a 30 day past due payment report to his credit on his Capital One card and in September a 30 day past due report on his Discover Card. He went from a 744 credit to know to a 648 score. He also closed a citi card earlier in the year that he was not using that had a 2500 limit. Is there a way to get these 2 late payments off his bureau? Any recommendations? Really would appreciate your input so I could share with him. He has been a rock star with on time payments and these where truly an oversight and he has his Auto loan paid perfectly. He also has some student loans that have been paid on time and those loans now are on hold since his accountant mentioned they may be waived with some of the stuff happening on those types of loans.
Matter a fact the chase sapphire reserved is better than platinum
Can i get an american credit card when i’m not in america?
Daniel, what would you say to a couple trying to earn max points and benefits/cash back. Should they double down on chase cards for example or should they go to different credit companies to spread out the benefits? For example if my wife has chase cards should I go city or capital one? Would love your thoughts on this
Great question. Same situation for me and my partner.
My wife and I took a hard look at our spending (gas grocery and restaurants the top by far) and we decided to share an Amex gold card account. We put every purchase we make on the card except for mortgage/ car payments. Average around 6k/month in spending, and in 1 year have accumulated nearly 300k points. I would highly recommend amex if the annual fee doesn’t scare you, it has a lot of great built in perks
personally I would double down on chase, I think the partner connections with airlines and hotels are a lot more valuable than the ones citi or capital one have
It was a slow and steady progress for me but as of 2 years ago I finally got into Tier 4. Hopefully I can experience Tier 5 sometime in my lifetime 😳
Haha if I ever qualify for tier 5 then I guess I did something right financially! Will definitely take a long time though, so tier 4 is fine with me too!
I got my starter credit card in 2018 & still haven’t being mine
I have been following you for a while now and have successfully moved to tier 2 cards in April this year! Have collected decent about of Chase travel points and planning to move to tier 3 before I spend them. What would you recommend are general requirements to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred? Not sure if my credit history is ready for tier 3 or not 🤔 Thanks again!
I currently have the CSP for about less than a year (7 months) and I LOVEEEE it!
I got the CSP with a 698 FICO!
I am looking forward to getting it! I have a FICO of around 730 but my credit history is just 1.5 year old so I am worried about that and not sure what is a good time to apply.
Is there an age requirement for the CSP? I’ve heard that it’s better if you’re 21+
@@Jessemontea I am not really sure, they don't mention anything as suck on the website or in the physically bank branch as well.
Me just happy with my citi double cash.
Are you wearing a Cuts t shirt?
Random question about your refer a friend links for chase cards; I know they limit how many referral rewards you can earn each year. Have you reached your limit? And if so, does that start over in January? Or does it go for a 12 month period that started a different month? I am gearing up to apply for a new chase card and always try to use referral codes from free content creators like yourself but I think I remember you stating at one point this past year that you had hit your limit. Just wondering if it would useful to wait to apply til January.
Hey Nikki, thanks for asking about my referral links! So each credit card I have gives me personal referral links through my account which are usually capped at maybe 3-5 sign ups per year which I hit pretty quickly early in the year. The rest of my referral links after that are through affiliate networks (see disclosure in my video description). Those affiliate links through those networks are not capped so you can feel free to use those at any time to help support the channel! Always find the best deals for yourself though and make sure my links give offers that are competitive - but thanks so much again for asking!
Question: Is it good to leave a dollar or so on your balances so that you have tiny credit utilization and credit bureaus know that the credit is being used?
If you pay balances in full, do bureaus treat that as a successful, on time payment with tiny credit utilization, or do they treat it as if you never used credit in the first place?
Hope the question makes sense. Thanks!
No it doesn't matter if you use it or not they will still see the payment as being made on time which is one of the most important aspects. That and having the line of credit available.
@@michaelsanderson4523 Is there any difference from the Credit Bureaus' perspective whether you pay off your card completely or not use the credit at all? Like, if you don't use a credit card all month and have a $0 balance, will they consider that lack of a payment as an on-time payment?
@@patrickrollins2710 it would most likely just not be a data point, so won't help but also shouldn't hurt
@@patrickrollins2710 Yeah I have a card that I don't use at all, but the payments count as "on-time". It does help bulk up your number of payments just in case you do miss one.
I recommend making a Credit Karma account, it's great for tracking credit and actually explaining why a certain thing is affecting your credit.
Also, get a Mint account if possible. This is the simplest way to have a financial "dashboard" without exporting all your account infos.
If you don't use a card it'll be canceled, it won't count as a late payment or anything. Always pay in full, you'll probably end up with some utilization being reported anyway unless you time your payments to when your card issuer reports to the bureaus - that only seems to make sense if you're applying for a loan that month.
I have savor and chime safe credit
Take a shot every time he says credit card.
Man I am only 15 and adulthood coming up doesnt look so pleasing anymore ;( all of these credit cards and how to build up your score looks like so much work 😭
it takes 5 minutes to get one each time you want a new one. it’s very straightforward
I’m on tier 3 with mid 700s credit score and was offer to upgrade to the platinum card after having gold card but it doesn’t fit my lifestyle.I always wonder if it would effect me for staying with the same card and not upgrading
All upgrading would do is increase your annual fee but maybe also allow you to get higher credit limits. So you'd have to figure out if the extra perks that come with the Platinum are worth the higher annual fee and your spending. But you aren't "losing" anything or getting dinged in anyway for not upgrading.
can a credit card suspend your account forr inactivity?
Yep
Is it true that it's better to use 30% of your credit card limit to build credit score??
It shouldn’t be more than 30% according to traditional wisdom. Use it just no more than 30% of your available credit
They should make credit cards for people with 800 credit scores and call it the elite tier 6 credit cards
Chase is good for lower spenders - AMEX is best for higher spenders. I use a mixture of both for maximum benefits but I made sure to get all the Chase cards in the beginning to avoid 5/24
What is 5/24
I recently graduated from my Chase Freedom Student card to the Unlimited. Interested to see what your list consists of! :)